What mic would I need to pug into a soundcard?

[Wiggins]

Hi all.

I am a complete n00b when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Basically, the wife is a member of Singstar (online Kareoke site) and loves her singing etc....

Now she currently has a Soundblaster Live Platinum Card in her system and has been using an old Skype microphone for her singing. I did plug in an old mic with a jack adaptor but she constantly got a horrible sound when moving the mic about.

Can someone point me in the right direction as to what kind of decent mic I can get as I want to suprise her and get it all running flawelessly so she can sing her heart out?

Would gold plated jacks be better? Are the big professional mic's not supposed to be plugged direct into the sound card? I'm clueless.

Edit: Would I be better to buy a Power Amp, Mixer or something along those lines and plug the soundcard through it?

TYIA

 

[errata]

I have had problems getting ordinary mikes to work with soundcards and would not reccomend purchase or an ordinary mike without a trial or guarantee its suitable.

There are some reaaonable mikes and headsets abuot for PC use, check out the onlinme music specialsits

 

[OzZie]

If you can, try and find a cheap USB2.0/FireWire ASIO soundcard with +48v phantom power XLR jack. You should look at M-Audio, Edirol and EMU. You should be able to pick one up for just under £100.

Then you can purchase and use any professional microphone (studio quality) for her to sing into.

Again, your looking at £100 for a half decent conderser microphone that will sound really nice. The cheaper alternative is to just get a soundcard that doesnt support +48v phantom power (so your unable to use condersor microphones) but will allow you to use dynamic microphones and will be cheaper to get started. Then you can look at a Shure SM57,58,58Beta for around £70.

I will probabily edit this post later with some ideas and links after work this evening or tommorrow.